EP1589333A1 - Wheatstone-Brücke zur Verwendung als Sensor - Google Patents

Wheatstone-Brücke zur Verwendung als Sensor Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP1589333A1
EP1589333A1 EP05252231A EP05252231A EP1589333A1 EP 1589333 A1 EP1589333 A1 EP 1589333A1 EP 05252231 A EP05252231 A EP 05252231A EP 05252231 A EP05252231 A EP 05252231A EP 1589333 A1 EP1589333 A1 EP 1589333A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
sensor elements
wheatstone bridge
type
sensor
set forth
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP05252231A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Xiaofeng Yang
Kevin Peters
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Hewlett Packard Development Co LP filed Critical Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
Publication of EP1589333A1 publication Critical patent/EP1589333A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01R—MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R17/00—Measuring arrangements involving comparison with a reference value, e.g. bridge
    • G01R17/10—AC or DC measuring bridges
    • G01R17/105—AC or DC measuring bridges for measuring impedance or resistance
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
    • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
    • B82Y15/00—Nanotechnology for interacting, sensing or actuating, e.g. quantum dots as markers in protein assays or molecular motors

Definitions

  • Fig. 1 is a schematic depiction of a Wheatstone Bridge.
  • Fig. 2 is a schematic depiction of a nano wire Wheatstone Bridge implementation of a Wheatstone Bridge.
  • Fig. 3 is a plan view of a full Wheatstone Bridge constructed using nano wires.
  • Figs. 4-8 are views depicting the steps which are involved in the fabrication of a Wheatstone Bridge.
  • Fig. 9 is a schematic layout showing a centroid arrangement via which linear fabrication process variations can be compensated for.
  • Fig. 10 is a schematic layout similar to that shown in Fig. 9 showing a variant of the centroid arrangement depicted therein.
  • Fig. 11 is a schematic layer showing a further centroid layout arrangement via which fabrication process variations can be compensated for.
  • Fig. 12 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the invention wherein an appropriate bias is applied to the substrate to negate average imbalance between the sensor elements.
  • Fig. 13 is a top plan view showing an embodiment of the invention wherein the bridge is electrically trimmed by gating the nano wires to produce an arrangement via which balance can be actively achieved.
  • Fig. 14 is a side view of the arrangement shown in Fig. 13 as taken along section line XII - XII.
  • the embodiments of the invention relate to but not limited to nano scale semiconductor type field-effect sensors including biological and chemical sensors.
  • these type of semiconductor sensors which are fabricated to include nano-scale wires
  • a suitable coating or arrangement is provided over the wires which reacts or responds to a given biological or chemical agent that is allowed to come in contact with the coating/arrangement.
  • This coating/arrangement responds by generating a sensible stimulus in the form of the attachment of species on the sensor surface which change the nanowire surface potential and hence the conductance of the nano wires. By sensing the change in the conductance of the nano wires it is possible to sense whether or not certain biological or chemical agents are present.
  • nano wire sensor elements are, in accordance with the embodiments of the invention, elements of a Wheatstone bridge circuit, they are, in addition to being configurable as chemical and biological sensors, also adaptable to respond to other stimuli such as photons and magnetic fields.
  • the scope of application of the embodiments is not limited to the above mentioned applications and the various other possibilities will become evident as the disclosure of the embodiments unfolds.
  • a full Wheatstone bridge circuit includes four resistive components (R1, R2, R3 and R4). These resistive components are connected so as to establish junctions A, B, C and D. Further, as show in Fig. 1, these resistive components are connected with a voltage source Vin across junctions A and C and voltmeter Vg which measures the voltage which is developed across junctions B and D.
  • the up/down sense of the arrows in this figure indicate the direction of response to external stimulus.
  • the circuit effectively adds the differential outputs of R1-R4 and R2-R3.
  • the embodiments of the invention implement a full Wheatstone Bridge by using P type and N type semiconductor nano wires as the resistances R1, R2, R3 and R4 in the manner depicted in Fig. 2.
  • the semiconductor materials used to form the nano wires can be of any suitable semiconductor material such as silicon, germanium, diamond, SiC, Si-Ge alloy, GaAs, other III-V compounds, GaN, other II-VI compounds, SnO, or other metal oxide semiconducting materials.
  • each of the nano wires comprise an elongated, nano width doped region formed on a suitable insulating layer, such as silicon oxide, which is formed on a suitable substrate, such as silicon.
  • the nano wires are all adapted to respond to a stimulus such as the application of a chemical or biological agent (merely by way of example) to a sensing coating and/or arrangement (not shown) which is suitably disposed with the wires.
  • a stimulus such as the application of a chemical or biological agent (merely by way of example) to a sensing coating and/or arrangement (not shown) which is suitably disposed with the wires.
  • the interaction between the coating/arrangement and the agent induces the P type wires to increase resistance with a positive charge and N type wires to react by decreasing resistance with the same charge. This achieves the above mentioned gain of 4 without adding amplification noise.
  • Embodiments of the present invention are effective in a balanced full Wheatstone Bridge configuration, as described above, wherein the four resistor elements are chemically sensitive and are deployed as two pairs of substantially identical resistors, R1 & R3 and R2 & R4, and wherein the pairs are doped differently so as to respond oppositely to the same stimulus (as in Fig. 1).
  • Embodiments of the invention can also be configured as a balanced half Wheatstone bridge in which only one pair of substantially identical resistors (R1 & R3) respond to the stimulus in the same direction and resistors R2 & R4 are not responsive to the stimulus.
  • Embodiments of the invention can also be configured as a balanced quarter Wheatstone bridge in which only one resistor, R1, is responsive to the stimulus and resistors R2, R3, and R4 are not responsive.
  • the balanced full Wheatstone bridge is comprised of nanoscale resistor elements, R1 - R4.
  • embodiments of the invention can be implemented entirely or partly of microscale resistor elements which are sensitive to external stimulus.
  • the balanced quarter and half Wheatstone bridge embodiments of the present invention can also be comprised of nanoscale resistor elements and microscale resistor elements having the desired balance and response to external stimulus, as described above.
  • Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of a nano-wire Wheatstone Bridge.
  • resistances R1, R2, R3 and R4 are interconnected by the metallic connectors 101 - 104 in the same manner shown in Fig. 2.
  • Figs. 4-8 depict a process via which the arrangement show in Fig. 3 can be fabricated.
  • Fig. 4 shows a wafer 150 on which a layer of silicon 152 suitable for doping has been prepared.
  • Fig. 5 shows a first P type nano wire (viz., an elongated nano width region) 154 which is produced using a suitable masking and doping technique such as ion implantation or the like.
  • Fig. 6 shows a second nano wire 156, which in this instance is a N type doped wire (viz., an elongated nano width region) formed in a predetermined spatial relationship with the first wire.
  • Fig. 9 shows a nano-wire fabrication layout which attenuates the effect of a possible linear variation due to fabrication process variation by enabling resistance matching. This layout improves the bridge balance by using a common centroid about which the nano wires are disposed and thus arranges the wires so that the linear variation in the fabrication process is shared in a manner which induces a mutual balancing effect.
  • Fig. 9 shows a situation wherein two nano wires in one arm of the bridge shown in Fig. 2, which comprise substantially equivalent resistances R1 and R4 for example, are each formed in two halves, viz., R1 A and R1 B , and R4 A and R4 B .
  • R1 A and R1 B are fabricated collinearly to R4 A and R4 B and such that their centroids are identical. Because the resistor halves are collinear with a common centroid, any differences in two halves R1 A and R1 B due to a linear process variation will be very similar to that on the halves R4 A and R4 B so that the resistances of R1 and R4 will therefore exhibit essentially similar characteristics and the possible detrimental effects of linear process variation will be compensated.
  • Fig. 10 shows the situation wherein each of the resistances R1 - R4 is formed as two halves wherein each is designated with the suffix A or B.
  • Fig. 11 shows the situation wherein each of the resistances R1 - R4 is consisted of three sub units wherein each is designated with the suffix A, B or C. What is not shown is the low resistance path to connect these three sub units together to form one resistor.
  • the common centroid layout technique is particularly effective in compensating for linear process variations. There are instances wherein non-linear process variations cannot be adequately compensated, for example, when the variations are due to differences in the N-doped and P-doped regions. In these situations it is possible to gate the wires, in order to adjust their resistance and to balance the circuit. Gating the semiconducting wires may be done via an applied electric field.
  • Fig. 12 is a side-view depiction of an appropriate embodiment as an extension of Figs. 3 and 8.
  • the substrate 150 is structured so as to present an electric field to the wires 154 and 156, for instance by the substrate comprising a thin insulating layer 159 and a conducting underlayer that can be contacted electrically by a conducting element 160.
  • a convenient way to fabricate such a structure employs a silicon-on-insulator starting wafer though other methods can also be used.
  • a positive gating field will tend to decrease resistance in N-doped wires and increase resistance in P-doped wires, whereas a negative gating field will do the opposite.
  • This embodiment of gating the P and N-doped wires via the common substrate potential is therefore particularly well adapted to balancing P-type and N-type Wheatstone bridge circuits where doping variation may require compensation.
  • a gate is provided on top of a section of a wire and is separated from it by a thin dielectric layer, such as 10-nm thick, thermally grown silicon dioxide.
  • the wires 200p, 200n are each provided with one or more gates.
  • the nano-wires 200p, 200n respectively have gates 200pG, 200nG associated therewith.
  • Each of these gates 200pG, 200nG comprises an electrically conductive layer (such as metal) which is separated from the nano wire by an insulating oxide film 210.
  • connector elements 220 which are made of a highly conductive material such as aluminum or the like. Although only two wires are show it will be understood that more can be formed and that the connector elements, although here not illustrated as doing so, are suitably connected with other elements to form a bridge circuit.
  • the gates are electrically connected via suitable wiring to an interface.
  • This interface is connected with a voltage control circuit which is responsive to the output of the bridge circuit and which is capable of selectively applying a suitable voltage to one or more of the gates to bring the bridge into balance. This process would typically be carried out during sensor initialization/calibration wherein the output is adjusted prior to the sensor being exposed to a sample requiring measurement.
  • a common centroid layout configuration of the Wheatstone sensors is effective in compensating for linear process variations. It is further noted that a common centroid layout may also be used to improve the performance of the Wheatstone bridge in some specific applications or environments where non-process variations may occur.
  • a Wheatstone bridge may have a common centroid layout configuration and may be used for biological and/or chemical sensing within micro/ Nano-fluidic systems. That is to say, the common centroid layout may compensate for certain variations with the fluidic system, such as in the case of sensor elements that are positioned near the boundary of a flow region. This may be useful in lab-on-a-chip and other applications of integrated fluidics.
  • the balanced Wheatstone bridge is used to adapt to linear variations in a flowing stream along the flow direction.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Nanotechnology (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Molecular Biology (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Micromachines (AREA)
  • Measuring Instrument Details And Bridges, And Automatic Balancing Devices (AREA)
  • Investigating Or Analyzing Materials By The Use Of Fluid Adsorption Or Reactions (AREA)
  • Investigating Or Analyzing Materials By The Use Of Electric Means (AREA)
EP05252231A 2004-04-21 2005-04-08 Wheatstone-Brücke zur Verwendung als Sensor Withdrawn EP1589333A1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US828334 2004-04-21
US10/828,334 US7009268B2 (en) 2004-04-21 2004-04-21 Wheatstone bridge scheme for sensor

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1589333A1 true EP1589333A1 (de) 2005-10-26

Family

ID=34940757

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP05252231A Withdrawn EP1589333A1 (de) 2004-04-21 2005-04-08 Wheatstone-Brücke zur Verwendung als Sensor

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US7009268B2 (de)
EP (1) EP1589333A1 (de)
JP (1) JP2005308749A (de)
TW (1) TW200604520A (de)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2144054A1 (de) * 2008-07-08 2010-01-13 ETH Zürich Sensor- und Messverfahren mit eindimensionalen Nanostrukturen
CN108780120A (zh) * 2016-03-10 2018-11-09 阿莱戈微系统有限责任公司 用于补偿霍尔效应元件由于应力引起的灵敏度漂移的电子电路

Families Citing this family (16)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1553714B1 (de) 2002-07-16 2020-07-01 Optis Wireless Technology, LLC Kommunikationsverfahren und übertragungsgerät
WO2005119204A1 (ja) * 2004-06-04 2005-12-15 Pioneer Corporation プローブヘッドの製造方法
US20060188934A1 (en) * 2005-02-22 2006-08-24 Ying-Lan Chang System and method for implementing a high-sensitivity sensor with improved stability
US20080085334A1 (en) * 2006-10-10 2008-04-10 Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. Hot Runner System Sensor
KR100972391B1 (ko) * 2008-03-24 2010-07-27 전자부품연구원 나노센서를 이용한 질병검사장치
US8390283B2 (en) 2009-09-25 2013-03-05 Everspin Technologies, Inc. Three axis magnetic field sensor
KR101105220B1 (ko) * 2010-03-12 2012-01-13 고려대학교 산학협력단 나노 재료를 이용한 센서 시스템 및 그 제조 방법
US8518734B2 (en) 2010-03-31 2013-08-27 Everspin Technologies, Inc. Process integration of a single chip three axis magnetic field sensor
EP2490036B1 (de) * 2011-02-18 2013-08-28 Melexis Technologies NV Stresssensor zur Erfassung mechanischer Spannungen in einem Halbleiterchip und stresskompensierter Hallsensor
US9606148B2 (en) 2012-03-26 2017-03-28 Battelle Memorial Institute Chemical/ biological sensors employing functionalized nanoswitch array
WO2014143388A1 (en) 2013-03-14 2014-09-18 Gyrus Acmi, Inc. (D.B.A Olympus Surgical Technologies America) Surgical positioning circuit
US9559162B2 (en) 2013-06-19 2017-01-31 Globalfoundries Inc. Thermoresistance sensor structure for integrated circuits and method of making
MX365853B (es) * 2013-12-31 2019-06-17 Halliburton Energy Services Inc Metodo para multiplexar mediciones de puente de wheatstone.
US10078107B2 (en) * 2015-10-27 2018-09-18 Globalfoundries Inc. Wafer level electrical test for optical proximity correction and/or etch bias
US9817063B2 (en) * 2016-02-19 2017-11-14 Globalfoundries Inc. Interconnect reliability structures
JP6541620B2 (ja) * 2016-06-03 2019-07-10 三菱電機株式会社 半導体装置および半導体装置の製造方法

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4001756A (en) * 1974-08-19 1977-01-04 U.S. Philips Corporation Measuring cell for determining oxygen concentrations in a gas mixture
EP0553452A2 (de) 1992-01-27 1993-08-04 ROTH-Technik GmbH & Co. Forschung für Automobil- und Umwelttechnik Sauerstoffsensoren auf der Basis von Cupratmischoxiden
WO2004003535A1 (en) 2002-06-27 2004-01-08 Nanosys Inc. Planar nanowire based sensor elements, devices, systems and methods for using and making same
US20040023064A1 (en) * 2000-06-09 2004-02-05 Arno Ehresmann Wheatstone bridge containing bridge elements, consisting of a spin-valve system and a method for producing the same

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH05196458A (ja) 1991-01-04 1993-08-06 Univ Leland Stanford Jr 原子力顕微鏡用ピエゾ抵抗性片持ばり構造体
US5948965A (en) 1996-05-01 1999-09-07 The United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration Solid state carbon monoxide sensor
JP3700910B2 (ja) 1997-10-16 2005-09-28 セイコーインスツル株式会社 半導体歪センサ及びその製造方法ならびに走査プローブ顕微鏡
JP2002131161A (ja) 2000-10-27 2002-05-09 Denso Corp 半導体圧力センサ
JP4356238B2 (ja) 2000-12-25 2009-11-04 株式会社デンソー 圧力センサ

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4001756A (en) * 1974-08-19 1977-01-04 U.S. Philips Corporation Measuring cell for determining oxygen concentrations in a gas mixture
EP0553452A2 (de) 1992-01-27 1993-08-04 ROTH-Technik GmbH & Co. Forschung für Automobil- und Umwelttechnik Sauerstoffsensoren auf der Basis von Cupratmischoxiden
US20040023064A1 (en) * 2000-06-09 2004-02-05 Arno Ehresmann Wheatstone bridge containing bridge elements, consisting of a spin-valve system and a method for producing the same
WO2004003535A1 (en) 2002-06-27 2004-01-08 Nanosys Inc. Planar nanowire based sensor elements, devices, systems and methods for using and making same

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
YI CUI ET AL: "Nanowire nanosensors for highly sensitive and selective detection of biological and chemical species", SCIENCE, vol. 293, no. 5533, 17 August 2001 (2001-08-17), pages 1289 - 1292, XP002264236, ISSN: 0036-8075 *

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2144054A1 (de) * 2008-07-08 2010-01-13 ETH Zürich Sensor- und Messverfahren mit eindimensionalen Nanostrukturen
WO2010003625A1 (en) * 2008-07-08 2010-01-14 Eth Zurich Sensor and measurement method using one-dimensional nanostructures
CN108780120A (zh) * 2016-03-10 2018-11-09 阿莱戈微系统有限责任公司 用于补偿霍尔效应元件由于应力引起的灵敏度漂移的电子电路
CN108780120B (zh) * 2016-03-10 2022-03-25 阿莱戈微系统有限责任公司 用于补偿霍尔效应元件由于应力引起的灵敏度漂移的电子电路

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JP2005308749A (ja) 2005-11-04
TW200604520A (en) 2006-02-01
US7009268B2 (en) 2006-03-07
US20050239230A1 (en) 2005-10-27

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
EP1589333A1 (de) Wheatstone-Brücke zur Verwendung als Sensor
US8797026B2 (en) Comparator circuit having latching behavior and digital output sensors therefrom
RU2238571C2 (ru) Датчик магнитного поля
US5572058A (en) Hall effect device formed in an epitaxial layer of silicon for sensing magnetic fields parallel to the epitaxial layer
US7231828B2 (en) High temperature pressure sensing system
EP1902282B1 (de) Sensor
US9437653B2 (en) Stress sensing devices and methods
US4733559A (en) Thermal fluid flow sensing method and apparatus for sensing flow over a wide range of flow rates
JPH08330646A (ja) 横型ホール素子
US6589433B2 (en) Accelerometer without proof mass
US10508958B2 (en) Semiconductor pressure sensor with piezo-resistive portions with conductive shields
US4100563A (en) Semiconductor magnetic transducers
JP6728491B2 (ja) 熱対流型加速度センサ及びその製造方法
Heidari et al. Sensitivity characteristics of horizontal and vertical Hall sensors in the voltage-and current-mode
US9496487B2 (en) Vertical hall device
JP3471986B2 (ja) ホール素子及びそれを用いた電力量計
US20220342238A1 (en) Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
Leepattarapongpan et al. The increase sensitivity of PNP-magnetotransistor in CMOS technology
JPH08181331A (ja) 力学量センサ
JP2005031078A (ja) センサ素子
JPH0560672B2 (de)
JPH0422164A (ja) 温度検出機能付半導体装置
JPH027553A (ja) 半導体集積回路装置
Kozlov et al. Effect of the design and manufacture parameters on the characteristics of a triple-collector bipolar magnetotransistor
JPS5818788B2 (ja) ホ−ルコウカソシ

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

AK Designated contracting states

Kind code of ref document: A1

Designated state(s): AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU MC NL PL PT RO SE SI SK TR

AX Request for extension of the european patent

Extension state: AL BA HR LV MK YU

17P Request for examination filed

Effective date: 20060418

AKX Designation fees paid

Designated state(s): DE FR GB IT

17Q First examination report despatched

Effective date: 20080702

RAP1 Party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred)

Owner name: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

RAP1 Party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred)

Owner name: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

GRAP Despatch of communication of intention to grant a patent

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNIGR1

INTG Intention to grant announced

Effective date: 20131129

RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: YANG, XIAOFENG

Inventor name: PETERS, KEVIN

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN

18D Application deemed to be withdrawn

Effective date: 20140410